Wer datete William Butler Yeats?

William Butler Yeats [jeɪts] (* 13. Juni 1865 in Sandymount, County Dublin; † 28. Januar 1939 in Menton, Frankreich) war ein irischer Dichter. Er gilt als einer der bedeutendsten englischsprachigen Schriftsteller des 20. Jahrhunderts. 1923 erhielt er als erster Ire den Literaturnobelpreis. Er war der Bruder des Künstlers und Autors Jack Butler Yeats (1871–1957) und der Vater des Politikers Michael Yeats (1921–2007). Seine Schwestern waren Elizabeth Yeats (1868–1940) und Susan Mary Yeats (1866–1949).

William Butler Yeats war Förderer der irischen Renaissance und schloss sich zeitweise einer revolutionären Bewegung an. 1899 gründete er gemeinsam mit Lady Gregory und Edward Martyn das Irish Literary Theatre. Aus diesem Projekt ging 1904 das Abbey Theatre, das irische Nationaltheater, hervor. Yeats war einige Zeit später für zwei Amtsperioden Senator.

Als Schriftsteller ließ sich Yeats von alten irischen Vorbildern, keltischer Mythologie und traditionellen englischen Dichtern wie etwa Blake, Shakespeare oder Shelley beeinflussen. Er schuf eine „national-irische, mythisch-mystische, oft symbolische Dichtung“. Seine frühen Gedichte können der englischen bzw. irischen Romantik zugeordnet werden. Im Zeitalter der Moderne verfasste Yeats zunehmend auch mehrere moderne Gedichte, die sein herausragendes Spätwerk markieren. Teilweise heißt es, dass er seine größten literarischen Arbeiten erst nach dem Erhalt des Nobelpreises verfasste.

Yeats’ Einfluss als ein Künstler, der zeitlebens um den angemessenen ästhetischen Ausdruck für eine „gründlich aus den Fugen geratene Welt“ rang, reicht dabei weit über die irische Literatur hinaus. In seinen Werken zeigt er eine „erstaunliche Wandlungs- und Steigerungsfähigkeit“, die ihn zum „schlechthin repräsentativen Dichter zwischen 1890 und 1940“ macht. Neben dem Romancier James Joyce gilt Yeats häufig als größter irischer Literat dieser Epoche.

Olivia Shakespear (née Tucker; 17 March 1863 – 3 October 1938) was a British novelist, playwright, and patron of the arts. She wrote six books that are described as "marriage problem" novels. Her works sold poorly, sometimes only a few hundred copies. Her last novel, Uncle Hilary, is considered her magnum opus. She wrote two plays in collaboration with Florence Farr.

Olivia was the daughter of a retired adjutant general, and had little formal education. She was well-read however, and developed a love of literature. In 1885 she married London barrister Henry Hope Shakespear, and in 1886 gave birth to their only child, Dorothy. In 1894 her literary interests led to a friendship with William Butler Yeats that became physically intimate in 1896. He declared that they "had many days of happiness" to come, but the affair ended in 1897. They nevertheless remained lifelong friends and corresponded frequently. On October 20, 1917, Yeats married Georgie Hyde-Lees, Olivia Shakespear's step-niece and Dorothy's best friend.

Olivia began hosting weekly salons frequented by Ezra Pound and other modernist writers and artists in 1909, and became influential in London literary society. Olivia's daughter Dorothy Shakespear married Pound in 1914, despite the less than enthusiastic blessing of her parents. After their marriage, Pound used funds received from Olivia to support T. S. Eliot and James Joyce. When Dorothy gave birth to a son, Omar Pound, in France in 1926, Olivia assumed guardianship of the boy. He lived with Olivia until her death twelve years later, in 1938.

Edith Maud Gonne MacBride (irisch Maud Nic Ghoinn Bean Mhic Giolla Bhríde, * 21. Dezember 1866 in Tongham Manor bei Farnham, Surrey, England; † 27. April 1953 in Dublin) war eine in England geborene irische Revolutionärin, Feministin und Schauspielerin.

Marguerite "Margot" Ruddock (1907–1951), who used the stage name Margot Collis, was an English actress, poet and singer. She had a relationship with W. B. Yeats starting in 1934. Their correspondence was published as Ah, Sweet Dancer (1970).

Yeats edited her poems for publication, but it is not clear how much change he made to them. He included some of them in the Oxford Book of Modern Verse, which he edited.

Some of her poems have been set as songs by the composer Robert Erickson.

She was married twice: first to John Collis, with whom she had a son, Michael, and secondly to Raymond Lovell, with whom she had a daughter, Simone Lovell. She died in 1951, when she was 44.

During her marriage to Raymond Lovell she had an affair with Yeats. When they met in 1934, Yeats was 69 and Ruddock`was 27. Their affair was conducted fitfully over the next few years. The affair broke down and Ruddock became mentally unstable. Some months later she followed Yeats (uninvited) out to the island of Majorca, where he was working with the Indian monk Shri Purohit Swami. Ruddock ended up in an asylum in Madrid from where she was rescued by Yeats and his friends, but later died in another institution, St. Ebba's Hospital in Epsom. Yeats' poem "A Crazed Girl" is believed to be inspired by Ruddock.